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Wikipedia

29m

Portal:Current events/2019 October 14

Armed conflicts and attacks

• Syrian Civil War, 2019 Turkish offensive into north-eastern Syria, NES–Syria relations
  • In the early hours of the morning, the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces hands over control of Tabqa, and the nearby Tabqa Airbase in the Raqqa Governorate to the Syrian Army. (Reuters) (Al Jazeera)
• A French tourist was stabbed to death while a Tunisinian soldier was wounded by an Islamist in Bizerte, Tunisia. (Xinhua)

Arts and culture

• The Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences selects Abhijit Banerjee, Esther Duflo and Michael Kremer as laureates for this year's Nobel Prize in Economics, "for their experimental approach to alleviating global poverty". (NPR)

Law and crime

• Trial of Catalonia independence leaders, 2017-18 Spanish constitutional crisis
  • The Supreme Court of Spain sentences the twelve Catalan independence leaders between 9 and 13 years in prison and disqualification from holding public office for sedition and misuse of public funds. While it proves the existence of violent outbreaks, it judges they are not sufficient to convict for rebellion.(BBC)(The New York Times)
  • Former Catalan Vice President Oriol Junqueras receives the highest penalty with 13 years in prison and disqualification, while former councilors Meritxell Borràs, Santi Vila and Carles Mundó are sentenced to one year and 8 months disqualification for disobedience. (El País)
  • Demonstrations and cut roads take place throughout Catalonia, with the largest taking place in Barcelona. The Committees for the Defense of the Republic calls for disobedience and popular revolt. (El Periódico) (El Mundo)
  • President of Catalonia Quim Torra requests a meeting with King Felipe VI of Spain and Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez and calls the sentence as an act of "revenge". Sánchez, in a special press conference, guarantees compliance with the sentence and calls for dialogue and coexistence, as well as ensures that Spain is a democratic state.(El Confidencial) (El Mundo)
  • Judge Pablo Llarena issues a European Arrest Warrant against former Catalan President Carles Puigdemont. (El Confidencial)
  • Clashes erupts between Mossos d'Esquadra and the protesters that occupied the Barcelona–El Prat Josep Tarradellas Airport. (ABC.es)
• Convicted British serial sex offender and paedophile Richard Huckle, who sexually abused dozens of children in Malaysia, is found stabbed to death in his cell at HM Prison Full Sutton. (BBC)

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Wikipedia

5m

Portal:Current events/2019 October 13

Armed conflicts and attacks

• 2019 Turkish offensive into north-eastern Syria, NES–Syria relations
  • The Syrian Democratic Forces agree to allow the Syrian Army to enter the SDF-held cities of Manbij and Kobani in an attempt to deter Turkey from attacking the towns. (Defence Post) (Reuters) (Al Arabiya)
  • As many as 700 ISIL family members escape an Ayn Issa camp. (CNN)
  • A thousand U.S. soldiers are to be pulled out of Syria because of the Turkish offensive. (BBC)
  • Fourteen people are killed and ten are injured by Turkish airstrikes targeting a convoy in the Syrian town of Ras al Ain. Five are identified as civilians. (Reuters)
• Somali Civil War (2009–present)
  • Multiple mortars hit Mogadishu Airport, wounding at least six people. Al-Shabaab claims responsibility for the attack. (VOA News) (Reuters)
• Russian military intervention in the Syrian Civil War
  • The New York Times claims in an investigation it can prove Russian aircraft bombed four Syrian hospitals in a matter of hours in May, using a combination of logbooks from planespotters, recorded radio transmissions, and eyewitnesses. (The Independent)

Disasters and accidents

• 48 people are confirmed dead, about 100 others are injured and 17 are missing after Typhoon Hagibis makes landfall in Japan. (Sky News)
• The 90-metre cargo ship MV Rhodanus, with a crew of seven, runs aground in the Mouths of Bonifacio nature reserve in the Strait of Bonifacio off Corsica. French maritime police say the vessel did not respond to calls for around an hour before grounding, and that fuel was not thought to be leaking. (France 24)
• A gas explosion kills nine people in a restaurant in Wuxi, China. (The Independent)

Law and crime

• California becomes the first U.S. state to ban the sale of fur products. The law goes into effect on January 1, 2023. (CNN)

Politics and elections

• 2019 Tunisian presidential election
  • Voters in Tunisia go to the polls to elect a new president. Conservative academic Kaïs Saïed wins more than 70% of the votes.(Al Jazeera) (The Guardian)
• 2019 Polish parliamentary election
  • Voters in Poland go to the polls to elect a new government. The incumbent right-wing Law and Justice is expected to slightly increase its plurality. (Reuters)

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Wikipedia

22m

Portal:Current events/2019 October 12

Armed conflicts and attacks

• 2019 Turkish offensive into north-eastern Syria
  • Senior SDF official Redur Xelil says defending ISIL prisons is not a priority anymore due to the conflict with Turkey. (BBC)
  • Prominent Kurdish Syrian politician Hevrin Khalaf is dragged from her vehicle on the M4 Motorway and summarily executed along with her driver and eight civilians by Turkish-backed Free Syrian Army militants. The killings were recorded by the militants, which has since been spread on social media. (The Guardian)
• Insurgency in the Maghreb
  • Armed men have stormed a mosque in Burkina Faso as worshippers were praying inside, killing more 16 people and sending residents fleeing. Jihadists are suspected to be behind the attack. (France24)
• Terrorism in Kenya
  • A homemade bomb strikes a Kenyan military vehicle, killing 10. (Reuters)
• 2019 Ecuadorian protests
  • President Lenín Moreno orders curfew and the militarisation of the capital as civil unrest worsens. (Deutsche Welle)
• Sinai insurgency
  • Shelling in Bir Al Abd, Egypt kills nine members of the same family. A further six people are wounded. (Gulf News)

Disasters and accidents

• A Hard Rock Hotel and Casino under construction in New Orleans partially collapses, killing one person and injuring at least 18. (The New York Times)
• Typhoon Hagibis makes landfall in Japan, the biggest storm to hit the region in decades, with over seven million people urged to evacuate. (BBC)

International relations

• 2019 Venezuelan presidential crisis
  • Argentine Foreign Minister Jorge Faurie announces, the day after Argentina severs diplomatic ties with the government of Nicolás Maduro, that visas granted to the diplomats appointed by Maduro have been revoked and they will be expelled from Argentina; the country now recognizes only Juan Guaidó appointees. (Clarín)

Law and crime

• Killing of Atatiana Jefferson
  • In Fort Worth, Texas, a black woman is shot dead in her bedroom by a white policeman sent to check on her welfare. (BBC)

Sports

• Eliud Kipchoge finishes a marathon in Vienna in 1 hour, 59 minutes and 40 seconds, assisted by a car and using a fleet of pacemakers. (CNN)

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Wikipedia

11h

Portal:Current events/2019 October 11

Armed conflicts and attacks

• 2019 Persian Gulf crisis, Iran–Saudi Arabia proxy conflict
  • The Pentagon announces the deployment of 1,000 to 3,000 U.S. troops to Saudi Arabia to deter Iranian aggression. (CNN) (ABC News)
  • Iran claims one of its oil tankers was hit in the Red Sea, likely by missiles. The Saudi Ports Authority confirms an incident with a tanker near the port of Jeddah overnight. (Reuters)
• Syrian Civil War, 2019 Turkish offensive into north-eastern Syria
  • A car bomb detonates in the Syrian city of Qamishli, killing three and injuring nine. The Islamic State claims responsibility for the attack. (Reuters)
  • Five ISIL prisoners escape a Syrian Democratic Forces-run prison near Kobanî, Syria, after being shelled by Turkey. (Reuters) (Metro)
  • Turkish artillery mistakenly hits a contingent of United States special operations forces on Mashtenour hill in the Kurdish-majority city of Kobanî, according to a senior Department of Defense official. (Newsweek)
  • A YPG mortar and rocket attack on the Turkish town of Nusaybin kills eight civilians and injures 35 others, according to the governor of Mardin Province. (Reuters)
• Burkina Faso mosque attack
  • Gunmen kill 16 people during prayers in a northern Burkina Faso mosque. (Reuters via India Today)

Arts and culture

• Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed wins the 2019 Nobel Peace Prize for his efforts to make peace between Ethiopia and neighbouring Eritrea. (Reuters)

Business and economy

• Thierry Bolloré is fired with immediate effect as the number two of the Renault group, reportedly after a power struggle with its president Jean-Dominique Senard. (Libération) (BBC)
• 2019 Japan–South Korea trade dispute
  • Japan and South Korea hold the first round of talks in Geneva to address a South Korea complaint with World Trade Organization over Japanese export controls. (Yonhap)
• China–United States trade war
  • China and the United States announced a tentative agreement for the "first phase" of a trade deal, with China agreeing to buy up to $50 billion in American farm products with the United States agreeing to suspend new tariffs scheduled for October 15. (Wall Street Journal)

Disasters and accidents

• A cargo plane carrying presidential staff crashes in eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo, killing all eight passengers and crew onboard. The Russian embassy in Kinshasa says "preliminary information" indicates Russians were on the aircraft. (Reuters)
• Saddleridge Fire
  • A wildfire destroys 25 homes, displaces 100,000 people and burns over 7,500 acres of forest in and around Los Angeles. (NPR)

Law and crime

• Manchester Arndale stabbing
  • Four people are stabbed and injured, one critically, in a mass stabbing at the Manchester Arndale shopping centre in the Northern Quarter, Manchester, United Kingdom. Another person was injured but not stabbed. A man in his early 40s is arrested. He was arrested under the Mental Health Act. (BBC)
• One Dutch person and two Afghans are remanded in custody for manslaughter and assistance to illegal immigrants staying in France, after they sold places in inflatable boats for them to reach Great Britain, causing the death of an Iranian woman on 9 August. (La Voix du Nord)
• Uganda announces the plan to pass a bill within weeks which potentially broadens the criminalisation of same-sex relations to include the death penalty. (The Independent) (Fox News)
• Censorship in Turkey, Erdoğanism
  • Turkey's Minister of the Interior Süleyman Soylu says almost 500 people were investigated and 121 have been detained for "insulting" the Turkish offensive in Syria on social media and characterizing Turkey as an "invading" force. (AP via Al-Arabiya)

Politics and elections

• Foreign relations of Argentina, 2019 Venezuelan presidential crisis
  • Argentina announces it has severed diplomatic ties with the disputed Nicolás Maduro-led Government of Venezuela in favour of explicit recognition of opposition leader Juan Guaidó as interim president of Venezuela in the context of the 2019 Venezuelan presidential crisis. (Clarín)

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Wikipedia

21h

Portal:Current events/2019 October 10

Armed conflicts and attacks

• 2019 Turkish offensive into north-eastern Syria, Kurdish–Turkish conflict
  • Heavy fighting between the Turkish Land Forces and the Syrian Democratic Forces along the Syria–Turkey border reportedly leaves hundreds dead. The International Rescue Committee says 64,000 people in northern Syria have fled since the Turkish offensive began, leaving the border towns of Ras al-Ayn and al-Darbasiyah largely deserted. (Reuters)
• Syrian Civil War
  • The Syrian Deputy Foreign Minister, Faisal Mekdad, blames the Turkish offensive on the Kurdish forces, saying Syria will not be negotiating with them "on the terms of separatism". (Xinhua)
• Yemeni Crisis (2011–present)
  • The White House confirms that Ibrahim al-Asiri, suspected chief bomb maker for terrorist group Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula, was killed in an American counter-terrorism operation in Yemen in 2017. (The New York Times)
• 2019 Ecuadorian protests
  • Anti-government protesters parade captured police officers in the Ecuadorian capital Quito, which is de-facto under the control of protesters and the Confederation of Indigenous Nationalities of Ecuador. The officers were not harmed, though they were forced to address a large crowd calling on President Lenín Moreno to step down, which was broadcast live by several private broadcasters after being ordered to do so by indigenous leaders. (The Guardian)
  • Protest groups issue a statement demanding that the International Monetary Fund (IMF) leave Ecuador, saying that civil unrest won't stop until they leave. (Bloomberg) (Pastebin)
• Terrorism in Indonesia
  • An ISIL radical stabs multiple people, including Indonesia's security minister Wiranto. Two suspects were later arrested. (BBC)

Arts and culture

• The Swedish Academy awards the 2018 Nobel Prize in Literature to Olga Tokarczuk, "for a narrative imagination that with encyclopedic passion represents the crossing of boundaries as a form of life", and the 2019 prize to Peter Handke, "for an influential work that with linguistic ingenuity has explored the periphery and the specificity of human experience". The 2018 prize is awarded only now because last year it was postponed due to a scandal. (The Guardian)

Disasters and accidents

• A highway bridge collapses onto cars in Wuxi, China, trapping multiple vehicles. Search and rescue operations commence. (The Straits Times)

Health and environment

• 2019 United States outbreak of lung illness linked to vaping products
  • The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reports the number of deaths caused by vaping-associated pulmonary injury has risen to 27, with an additional 1,299 cases of non-fatal injuries. (The New York Times)

International relations

• 2019 Turkish offensive into north-eastern Syria, European Union–Turkey relations
  • Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan threatens to send 3.6 million Syrian refugees into Europe if the European Union labels the country's recent offensive in northeastern Syria an "occupation". (The Guardian)

Law and crime

• Michael Drejka, a 47-year-old white Florida man who shot and killed Markeis McGlockton, an unarmed 28-year-old African American man, in a parking space dispute, is sentenced to 20 years in prison. Drejka had cited Florida's stand-your-ground law in his defense and was not initially charged until the case was handed over to State Attorney Bernie McCabe, who charged Drejka with one count of manslaughter. (ABC News)
• Crime in Alaska
  • A murder case from Anchorage, Alaska makes national news, after it is revealed that the killer recorded the killing in both video and still photographs on an SD card, which was later found by a local woman on a street and turned over to police. Local police arrested Brian Steven Smith and charged him with the murder, after identifying him from the content of the memory card. (The New York Times) (Yahoo News) (KTUU-TV)

Politics and elections

• Impeachment inquiry against Donald Trump
  • Two associates of Rudy Giuliani have been arrested for campaign finance violations in connected to efforts to discredit Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden, according to a spokesman for the District Court for the Southern District of New York. (CNN)

Science and technology

• 2019 Hong Kong protests
  • A source for CNN confirms that a note posted anonymously on Pastebin.com is by Apple CEO Tim Cook. In the note, Cook defends Apple's decision today to bin the HKmap.live iOS app because, he says, its use endangers "law enforcement and residents in Hong Kong." (CNN)

Sports

• Women's rights in Iran, 2022 FIFA World Cup qualification – AFC Second Round
  • In a men's football match attended by women supporters for the first time in decades, Iran beats Cambodia 14–0. (Al Jazeera)

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Wikipedia

2d

Portal:Current events/2019 October 9

Armed conflicts and attacks

• Halle and Landsberg attacks
  • Two people are killed and two others are injured in attacks by a man wearing military camouflage near a synagogue and at a kebab shop in Halle, Saxony-Anhalt, Germany. Shots are also reported in nearby Landsberg. A suspect, 27-year old Stephan Billiet, is arrested. The attack had been livestreamed on Twitch for 35 minutes citing anti-Semitic and racist motivations. (BBC) (DW) (The Guardian)
• 2019 Turkish offensive into north-eastern Syria, Turkish involvement in the Syrian Civil War, Kurdish–Turkish conflict (2015–present)
  • Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan says his country has launched a military invasion of northern and eastern Syria. The Kurdish YPG-led Syrian Democratic Forces say that Turkish fighter aircraft strike targets and "civilian areas". Syrian state television says the Turkish artillery shelling of Ras al-Ayn, al-Hasakah Governorate, is "random", and Ayn Issa, Raqqa Governorate, is also being shelled. (Deutsche Welle) (Al Jazeera) (Xinhuanet)
  • The Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces requests urgent air support from the United States, and a no-fly zone over northern Syria to protect it from Turkish air raids. U.S. President Donald Trump has ordered U.S. forces to not intervene in the conflict. (Reuters) (BBC)
  • Women at the SDF-controlled Al-Hawl refugee camp, which holds around 74,000 refugees, mostly the wives and children of ISIL fighters, riot and burn their tents according to a Kurdish security official. (Kurdistan24)
  • The U.S. military takes two militants of the Beatles ISIL cell previously held by Kurdish forces to face trial in the United States. (Reuters) (ABC News)
  • Multiple reports that ISIL has committed multiple suicide bombings in the Syrian city of Raqqa. (Time)
• Military activity of ISIL
  • President of Niger Mahamadou Issoufou claims that American hostage Jeffery Ray Woodke is still alive and being held by a jihadist group affiliated with ISIL. Woodke was kidnapped in October 2016. (ABC News)

Business and economy

• The OECD releases a set of proposals, for the 134 countries which accepted the principle, to discuss and negotiate a change in international taxation of the big digital and consumer goods companies' global profits. (Reuters)
• International sanctions during the Venezuelan crisis
  • Adobe cuts access to its software and cancels all Creative Cloud memberships in Venezuela, to comply with U.S. President Donald Trump's trade restrictions. (BBC)
• European debt crisis
  • Greece issues new three-month debt at a negative interest rate. (Financial Times)

Law and crime

• 2019 Tunisian presidential election
  • An appeals court in Tunisia releases candidate Nabil Karoui from prison, days before the second round of the presidential election. (Al Jazeera)

Politics and elections

• 2019 Ecuadorian protests
  • Ecuadorian President Lenín Moreno says that he will not resign "under any circumstance" and continues with his government in Guayaquil. (Infobae)

Science and technology

• The Nobel Prize in Chemistry is awarded to John B. Goodenough, M. Stanley Whittingham and Akira Yoshino for the development of lithium ion batteries. (CNN)

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Wikipedia

3d

Portal:Current events/2019 October 8

Armed conflicts and attacks

• Turkish involvement in the Syrian Civil War, Northern Syria Buffer Zone
  • Turkish officials say that Turkish Air Force jets have begun bombing the Syrian-Iraqi border on Monday night, ahead of an imminent invasion of northern Syria. That region is controlled by Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces, whom Turkey regards as terrorists. (The Hill)
• War in Afghanistan (2001–present)
  • A bomb explodes in a classroom at Ghazni University in Afghanistan, wounding at least nineteen students. The same university was targeted last month with a bomb attached to a university minibus. That bomb killed one person and injured five others. (Gulf News)
• Two sappers die and four more are wounded trying to defuse World War II shells in Poland. The last such casualties occurred in 1982. (Xinhua) (TVN24)

Health and environment

• Pacific Gas and Electric shuts off power to 800,000 customers in Northern California, citing safety concerns over an elevated fire risk caused by weather conditions. (CBS 13 Sacramento)

International relations

• Brexit negotiations in 2019
  • President of the European Council Donald Tusk tells Prime Minister of the United Kingdom Boris Johnson that "what's at stake is not a stupid blame game," after a UK source said that talks were "close to breaking down" following a reported argument in a phone call between Johnson and German chancellor Angela Merkel about the post-Brexit status of Northern Ireland. (CNN)
• China–United States relations, China–United States trade war
  • The U.S. State Department imposes visa restrictions on numerous Chinese government officials whom it believes responsible for the detention or abuse of Muslim Uighurs and other ethnic minorities in Xinjiang province. On Monday the Department of Commerce added twenty-eight Chinese firms and bureaus to its "trade blacklist" for similar reasons. (Reuters)

Law and crime

• Thirteen men are arrested in the United Kingdom for drug smuggling. The authorities believe that over several years, the suspects imported approximately 50 tonnes of illegal drugs from the Netherlands, valued at several tens of millions of pounds. The National Crime Agency called it “the biggest ever [drug] conspiracy that we've seen in the UK”. (BBC)

Politics and elections

• 2019 Ecuadorian protests
  • The Government of Ecuador, headed by President Lenín Moreno, moves to Guayaquil as the Carondelet Palace in Quito is taken over by protesters and chaos persists in the capital. (The Guardian)
  • As the situation in the country worsens, Moreno denounces a "coup attempt" by incumbent President Nicolás Maduro of Venezuela and former Ecuadorian President Rafael Correa. (Chicago Tribune)
• Politics of Italy
  • Italian lawmakers vote to reduce the number of seats in the Chamber of Deputies from 630 to 400, and the number of seats in the Senate of the Republic from 315 to 200, at the next Italian general election. (Reuters)

Science and technology

• The Nobel Prize in Physics is awarded to Jim Peebles for theoretical discoveries in physical cosmology, and to Michel Mayor and Didier Queloz for the discovery of 51 Pegasi b, an exoplanet orbiting a solar-type star. (BBC)